Mother May I?

Yes, we may apparently. Last week we had the opportunity to interview with Sr. Copywriter Bobby Hershfield at Mother. Unlike separate office and cubicle agencies, Mother works as a a family (very suitable for their name). The office is more like a group of open desks. The people are very open as well, allowing us to snoop around and get an idea of how a team works. On all of their cards, there is a picture of each of their mothers on the back, maybe to remind them just where they came from.

Forget the money, show us the future!

We headed over to Publicis in NY last week to get some answers from our former teacher, ACD, Dave Hermanas. Dave has helped us so much already with our work at Adhouse, and has again made time for us with our project. Though they have seen their impacts from the recession, as most places have, he explained how clients are now once again starting to come back out of their shells with regard to creative work. This is a good sign for all creatives, because as we all know, it's not 'better safe than sorry,' it's if you're safe, then you're probably sorry for producing it.

Then we popped over to their big digital subsidiary group, Razorfish, meeting with ECD, Marc Lucas. Ironically, Marc wasn't brought into Razorfish for his digital ideas, rather his extensive background in traditional advertising allows him to take a step back when approaching interactive. He is not looking for just a new media to place ideas, rather he is taking everything back to basics, looking for the main idea that solves the problem, and deciding step-by-step where to strategically place this idea. He believes this idea does not even have to live in the form of advertising, rather if it is indeed a bigger idea, that it will survive in any form. We definitely agree, and believe that it is not what new media is hot now, but any form of an idea that solves a problem will always be hot, and will always survive in the future.

Custom Charvel EVH Slayed!

Meetings with W+K and BBDO last week!

We sat down with ACD, Lu Chekowsky and her posse at Wieden. Lu is amazing, and had passed through the WK12 program herself back during it's beginning stages. The agency is actually busier than ever with some new projects, but which we are sworn to secrecy on not telling. They even have a little agency within an agency, that Keiji Ando works with.

<= Keiji the blog lord, as you can guess, takes care of Wieden's NY blog, check it out here: http://blog.wknyc.com/.

The only thing cooler than being cool is not ice cold, it's 150 Varick, 7th flr. Kudos to Keiji!

At BBDO we interviewed full-time ECD, and part-time ass-kicking guitar slayer, Greg Hahn. Apart from already being intimidated by his numerous awards lining his office and seeing the 'It' and 'Buddy lee' work first-hand, my (Bill's) phone started acting up. Not cool Bill's phone.. Not cool at all. By now you would think the phone would be prepared after all these interviews, but no it would not behave itself. And no, I did not pick it up. But what was picked up was

Greg's custom Charvel Van Halen guitar

<== after our interview, and slay it he did. I might need to change the lens on the camera, and will have to put my face back together for the next interview. ta ta for now.

12hoursinacity

We hung out with Clark, from 12hoursinacity, who finally made it back to Buffalo on his own little adventure. He took advantage of the jet blue deal and took off with a buddy around the US for a month. If you haven't heard yet, check out his trip: http://www.twelvehoursinacity.com/

AD-Venture Week

With all of the events going on last week, we decided to take the week off from interviewing, but did get some coverage!

Also check us out on

Adrants

Adholes

And follow our Facebook Fan page!

NEW TRAILER UP!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43_JAP6MY1E

Viva la Revoluci'on!

We hit up Strawberry Frog last week and met with CEO and founder, Scott Goodson, who believes great ideas inspire cultural movements. We observed this regimented frog squad and were informed as to what young creatives should REALLY do when they graduate. Among other parting gifts, we were given the Frogism manifesto to study, learning all about the agency. All but one thing... why strawberry?!

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple

We are finally back in NY!! Sorry, it has been a while since writing, but we were sorting through videos trying to compile a lot of the footage to put together a trailer for this expedition. We will actually be hitting up agencies in NY in the next week or so, and will have more feedback soon. We also just met with the lovely Lauren Slaff, owner of Adhouse, who had plenty to say about what agencies are looking for in books now, and what it really takes to make it during these transitional times.

What's in the water here in Chicago??

After taking a look at some of Frank Lloyd Wright's amazing work over the weekend, we headed over to see some of the amazing work of DDB and Leo Burnett.  We sat down with Executive Director of Production, SVP, Diane Jackson and Group Creative Director, SVP, John Maxham.  Being big fans it was easy to get intimidated, but they both warmed up to us quickly.  They explained that creating interesting work which users can spread along easily increases popularity of such work, allowing for better overall popularity of a product.

At Leo Burnett we sat down with SVP, Creative Director Sebastian Mueller-Soppart, who is looking for more than just a portfolio from students, but ways of standing out in everything you do, with new ways of thinking.  

MINI apple US

Big day out here.. First we headed over to Clarity Coverdale Fury and met with Mr. Jac Coverdale himself. He had a well-nurtured masters in creativity, but is still very young at heart. His office was filled with everything from snowboards to boxing gloves, and is working on the newest innovations around.

Then we shot over to Carmichael Lynch, where we met with CD, Brock Davis. After passing through the tire swing and car in lobby, we had a sit down in a large meeting room, discussing Mr. Davis' favorite video game, as well as his concept for the Jacks Link's Beef Jerky Sasquatch character.

Lastly we stopped at Fallon, where we met with top creative team Eric Sorensen and Hans Hansen. Both believed keeping a healthy body is an excellent way to keep your mind open and healthy to new ideas (Hans actually bikes 20 miles to work everyday!) Then we were lucky enough to run into CCO Darren Spiller, just as he was taking off. We had a quick little interview in the lobby, where he had some great advice for the new guys.. After the interviews we stopped at a nearby bar, where they actually had a Fallon burger on the menu. Talk about taking over a town!

This Boulder rocks! (seriously, it does)

Hello from Boulder, CO! Those of you following along, I know what you are thinking..WHAT!?, they didn't go see Wieden in Portland?! And sorry to say, it was just too far out of the way for us. BUT, if they want to fly us out, we would be more than happy to take the trip. Otherwise, we will hit them up when we head back to NY.

With 20 straight hours of driving later, we made it to CP&B. Unfortunately, Mr. Bogusky was not around to meet with us, but we did manage to meet with an extremely talented young-gun creative by the name of Andty Pearson. After leaving the Creative Circus, Andy went to work at Wieden and Kennedy in Portland, fresh from his win at Future Lions. Then he jumped over to Crispin, where we had the pleasure of listening to what working for these top dogs is all about. Updates from Minnea+ to follow..

We FOUND our hearts in San Francisco!

We just met with two amazing agencies: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and AKQA. Our friend Trevor Houser that went to Adhouse with us has been working at Goodby for awhile now, and hooked us up with two great interviews. One was with insightful CD, Mike Mazza, who considers now one of the best times actually to jump into the ad world. The other interview was with two of the funniest individuals we have met so far (and that we have actually met in a long time). Both named John, but spelled different, John Kovacevich and Jon Wolanske, aside from constant jokes that threw our questions off track, actually had a lot to say about how a different unexpected approach can really turn out for the best. Then we headed over to AKQA, across from the AT&T stadium, where we met with one of the wizards of the advertising industry today, none other than Rei Inamoto himself!! This man knows exactly what he wants from this business, and that is to not only put a dent in it, but change it completely. It was very inspiring, to say the least (especially since he is personally one of our role models in the industry). Off to Boulder!

California Dreaming

After being chewed up and spit out in Vegas, we finally made it to California and dipped our feet in the Pacific.. We did it!! After a well-needed rest, We met with Art Buyer, Kristina Hicks at Saatchi & Saatchi in LA, who gave us a conservative, yet ambitious view from this little environmentally-friendly branch. Then we popped over to Campbell-Ewald, a close-nit branch from their mothership Detroit agency. Francis had an extrmely helpful contact by the name of Sylvie Mihail, who hooked us up with a couple of individuals, giving us a wider variety of feedback. One such individual was SVP, associative creative director, Weston Kettering. With 18 years of experience in the agency, Weston gave us extremely helpful, detailed answers to many of our yet unexplored questions, allowing us to dig deeper into this crazy business.

Alburquerky

Visited owner Richard Kilmer at Kilmer and Kilmer in Alburquerque on Monday. This little querky agency far surpassed our expectations. Mr Kilmer himself was a stern yet delightfully humble ambassador of his agency. He provided excellent coverage of his fellow troops (who have no title or ranking), as well as showed highly uplifting spirits and revenue to boot in these rough times.

Route 66

Rolled through Arkansas and Oklahoma, then stopped at The Big Texan in Amarillo, TX. Home of the 72 oz. FREE steak! (if you can eat it with sides in under an hour). Unfortunately no one tried this daring feat, but we were definitely tempted. If you can't finish however, you have to pay $72 for the meal..

Then we rolled into Alburquerque, NM, caught up with a college friend and will be crashing at his place for another day. We are still hoping to see a set of these famous vintage Burma-Shave signs along the way on the historic route 66 (rumour has it a couple are still up). The signs are little poems, set so that you read each one every 3 seconds or so. This one read: If daisies are your/favorite flower/keep pushin' up those/miles-per-hour/Burma-Shave.

follow francis carter as well: http://twitter.com/fbomb55

southern hospitality

well, we finally made it to tennessee and it has been amazing so far. we camped out in the smokies for 2 days then headed over to nashville and met with senior designer darek leech at gs&f. the interview went really well, gathering some informative feedback about this tight-nit group, as well as good advice for new hires. then we kicked it over to memphis and had a blast. feeling a little rough this afternoon, but putting a little south in ma mouth at rendezvous ribs is sure soaking up some of the damage..

AD-venture video doc

Welcome to AD-venture. A 20 day journey across the U.S. trying to discover which ad agency works for you. Stops at different agencies will attempt to answer questions as to how, why, and what makes certain agencies the 'cream of the crop' so to speak. Follow along for daily updates as well on: www.twitter.com/laurindodacosta and www.twitter.com/mouchpotato

Let the ADventure begin